Much has been said about using a double bladed (kayak style) paddle in a
canoe but not a whole lot that I can remember about the reverse, that is, a
single bladed (canoe style) paddle in a kayak. I always carry a single
bladed paddle with me in my kayak. It is one of those collapsible paddles
and I stow it right behind my seat most times, my thinking being that it
would probably be a bit more efficient than just my bare hands if I dropped
or lost my main paddle while out on the water. I know some folks carry
spare "break down" double bladed paddles, but I'm never far away enough
from land to need that. I have found that in a number of places I go that
a single bladed paddle seems to be a distinct advantage. Places like the
Everglades, or Juniper Springs, or any number of swamps and rivers where
there is not a whole lot of overhead clearance. I haven't used a single
blade any distance in open water, but I have often found myself breaking
down my double bladed paddle and using the single blade to go places I
never could have gone with a double blade. Has anyone tried to paddle a
kayak with a canoe type paddle in the open water or is the idea too stupid
to even contemplate?

Galen Hekhuis NpD, JFR, GWA
Guns don't kill people, religions do

Galen Hekhuis wrote:
Has anyone tried to paddle a
kayak with a canoe type paddle in the open water or is the idea too stupid
to even contemplate?

Aleut paddlers in kayaks used single bladed paddles exclusively in some cases.
They also had double blade paddles, however.

The only problem with a single blade paddle in the conventional kayaks that we
paddle is that it isn't as easy to use from the low, sitting position compared
to a kneeling position. The Aleut used a kneeling position with a single blade
- the coaming of their kayaks was quite high and wide.

Mike

I have an ottertail that I use in my sea kayak for a change of pace and
muscles. Only in deep, mostly flat, water. Kneeling in a 22" wide boat
using a single blade paddle would be quite beyond most paddlers I know,
except for sprinter racers. The pics I have seen of Aleuts look like
the are sitting, but I haven't seen them all.

Steve


Michael Daly wrote:
Galen Hekhuis wrote:
Has anyone tried to paddle a
kayak with a canoe type paddle in the open water or is the idea too stupid
to even contemplate?

Aleut paddlers in kayaks used single bladed paddles exclusively in some cases.
They also had double blade paddles, however.

The only problem with a single blade paddle in the conventional kayaks that we
paddle is that it isn't as easy to use from the low, sitting position compared
to a kneeling position. The Aleut used a kneeling position with a single blade
- the coaming of their kayaks was quite high and wide.

Mike

wrote:
I have an ottertail that I use in my sea kayak for a change of pace and
muscles.

I've been thinking of making a short-shaft ottertail for that.

Only in deep, mostly flat, water. Kneeling in a 22" wide boat
using a single blade paddle would be quite beyond most paddlers I know,
except for sprinter racers.

Canoe racers do it all the time and those racing canoes have negative initial
stability. They don't look 22" wide either. They have to brace a lot if waves
whip up more than a few inches high!

The pics I have seen of Aleuts look like
the are sitting, but I haven't seen them all.

Take a look at the size of a King Island or similar kayak's cockpit. The
coaming diameter allowed them to put two people in back-to-back with the forward
facing one paddling. The coamings are so high that using a double blade paddle
is awkward. Of the few rolls the Aleut used (that I know of), one was a single
blade roll (documented in D.Hutchinson's "Eskimo Rolling" book).

Mike

Galen Hekhuis wrote:
[stuff about paddling a kayak with a single blade]

Good to see you, Galen. You bin OK?

When I saw yer message subject I thought this was one of your patented
humerous trolls.

Good to see you and some of the other old names back in r.b.p again
(even the irritating John Kuthe surfaced briefly, a week or two ago).
Maybe this place will rise, as the Phoenix, from the ashes of Burnt
Njall and stinky smoldering spontoons.

-Richard, His Kanubic Travesty
--
================================================== ====================
Richard Hopley Winston-Salem, NC, USA
.. rhopley[at]earthlink[dot]net
.. Nothing really matters except Boats, Sex, and Rock'n'Roll
.. rhopley[at]wfubmc[dot]edu
.. OK, OK; computer programming for scientific research also matters
================================================== ====================

On 18 Aug 2006 07:12:00 -0700, "Oci-One Kanubi"
wrote:

Good to see you, Galen. You bin OK?

Thanks, been fine. I moved north, to virtually the only whitewater in
Florida (aka The Waterfall State) along the Suwannee River in Big Shoals,
Fl. http://www.floridastateparks.org/bigshoals/default.cfm I don't live in
the park, just a few miles from it. For those familiar with interstates,
it's just minutes from where I-10 and I-75 cross in Florida. Sometimes the
water gets up to a Class III, but most of the time it is rather less than
that. Right now the weather is hardly ideal, but during the dead of winter
this isn't a bad area to contemplate visiting.

When I saw yer message subject I thought this was one of your patented
humerous trolls.

I'm in an area with a lot of overhanging stuff. I was out in the back pond
in my kayak and didn't hardly use my double bladed paddle at all. I like
the idea of a covered boat (like a kayak) for overhung areas. [I need to
digress a minute here to discuss snakes. Cottonmouths (sometimes called
water moccasins) do not climb trees overhanging swamps. They do not fall
into boats. Unfortunately, the harmless brown water snake here in Florida
does climb overhangs and does fall into boats, although not very often. It
doesn't help that they look like cottonmouths. But you can bet your sweet
bippy that each and every water snake killed here is a dangerous
cottonmouth about to strike. Just ask the people who have "had" to kill
the snakes.] Using a single blade was absolutely the only way to get
around in some places, but I had never tried it in open water, it just
seemed like a waste of time.

Good to see you and some of the other old names back in r.b.p again
(even the irritating John Kuthe surfaced briefly, a week or two ago).
Maybe this place will rise, as the Phoenix, from the ashes of Burnt
Njall and stinky smoldering spontoons.

Galen Hekhuis NpD, JFR, GWA
Guns don't kill people, religions do

Used to live in Fla. myself, and yep, you are correct on the cotton mouth
issue. Easy to tell the difference from a water snake once you know wht
you're looking for...... cotton mouths float very high in the water as well/

"Galen Hekhuis" wrote in message
...
On 18 Aug 2006 07:12:00 -0700, "Oci-One Kanubi"
wrote:

Good to see you, Galen. You bin OK?

Thanks, been fine. I moved north, to virtually the only whitewater in
Florida (aka The Waterfall State) along the Suwannee River in Big Shoals,
Fl. http://www.floridastateparks.org/bigshoals/default.cfm I don't live
in
the park, just a few miles from it. For those familiar with interstates,
it's just minutes from where I-10 and I-75 cross in Florida. Sometimes
the
water gets up to a Class III, but most of the time it is rather less than
that. Right now the weather is hardly ideal, but during the dead of
winter
this isn't a bad area to contemplate visiting.

When I saw yer message subject I thought this was one of your patented
humerous trolls.

I'm in an area with a lot of overhanging stuff. I was out in the back
pond
in my kayak and didn't hardly use my double bladed paddle at all. I like
the idea of a covered boat (like a kayak) for overhung areas. [I need to
digress a minute here to discuss snakes. Cottonmouths (sometimes called
water moccasins) do not climb trees overhanging swamps. They do not fall
into boats. Unfortunately, the harmless brown water snake here in Florida
does climb overhangs and does fall into boats, although not very often.
It
doesn't help that they look like cottonmouths. But you can bet your sweet
bippy that each and every water snake killed here is a dangerous
cottonmouth about to strike. Just ask the people who have "had" to kill
the snakes.] Using a single blade was absolutely the only way to get
around in some places, but I had never tried it in open water, it just
seemed like a waste of time.

Good to see you and some of the other old names back in r.b.p again
(even the irritating John Kuthe surfaced briefly, a week or two ago).
Maybe this place will rise, as the Phoenix, from the ashes of Burnt
Njall and stinky smoldering spontoons.

Galen Hekhuis NpD, JFR, GWA
Guns don't kill people, religions do